A look Central's football game this week

Rockwood Summit (1-6) at Central (0-7)

Last week: Parkway West 27, Rockwood Summit 10; Seckman 41, Central 26

Last year: Rockwood Summit 35, Central 0

Outlook: Winless Central teams picked up the first and only victories in Week 7 during the 1999 and 2008 seasons. The 2009 Tigers were unable to collect a win in Week 7, which gives Central its worst start since the 1983 team went 0-10. While Central still is looking for its first win as it opens the three-game district part of its schedule, a trip to the playoffs remains a real possibility. Jackson also is 0-7, while tonight's opponent, Rockwood Summit, is 1-6. Summit has dropped its last six games since defeating Union 38-12 in its season opener. Eureka has the district's best record at 2-4. Under the new playoff format, two of these four struggling teams will find themselves in the postseason.

"It can be anybody. Why not us?" Central coach Rich Payne said.

But the Tigers will have to cut down on turnovers. They committed five in the loss to Seckman.

"We're not a good enough ballclub to have a lot of mistakes and recover from them," Payne said. "If we can eliminate the mistakes, I think we can play with the next three ballclubs, and I'll take my chances and then see where we're at. I think the kids are excited."

Central and Summit have played two common opponents with similar results, as Parkway North hammered both teams while Farmington rallied in the second half against both. Parkway North trounced Central 50-0 and clobbered Summit 43-0. Central lost 44-28 to Farmington after leading by 13 points in the first half, while Summit held a 12-point advantage with less than 5 minutes left in the game but fell 36-33.

The Tigers made some changes in Week 7, which included sophomore receiver Christian Cavaness taking over at quarterback. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Both touchdown passes were pulled in by junior Andrew Williams, who played quarterback the previous six games. Williams started the game at quarterback, but Cavaness, who played quarterback for the freshman and JV teams last year, took over in the first quarter.

Payne said Cavaness was having problems getting off blocks and Williams was having problems gripping the ball, hence the switch.

"We'll probably start Christian, probably because we haven't done it that way yet," Payne said. "I'll probably swap them up when I feel it needs to happen. Christian may be a little faster, but he's a little more inexperienced as to when to run or when not to run. Andrew is a little taller, and if we're playing a defensive line that is taller, he can see over the line better. I have all the confidence in either one to call signals and run the ballclub the way it needs to be run."

Brandon Pickens also topped the 100-yard mark for the third time in four games last week. Pickens, who was suspended the first three games of the season, has 532 yards since his debut. Central also had a new-look offensive line last week after two tackles and a guard were injured in the previous game. Payne said tackle Jeremy Lamb likely is out for the remainder of the season with a broken wrist, but termed tackle Chris Bird (knee) as probable and guard Zach Horrell (knee) as questionable for tonight's game.

Summit will be in a bit of disarray as Payne said the Falcons will have to sit some players after they were ejected from last week's game. D'Shawn Adams, who ran for 293 of his 352 yards this season in the loss to Farmington, is one of the players ineligible for tonight's game. Senior running back Dominic Bonagurio, who leads the team with 546 yards rushing, is still in place for tonight's game as are senior receivers Jermon Watson and Andrew Beisel and quarterback Myles Robinson. Both receivers top 200 pounds and have more than 200 yards receiving.

-- Jeff Breer